Or maybe Dorothy just hates sheep...

One of the things I enjoy about a great many of Dorothy's journals is how nonchalantly she describes events that I would consider distinctive... Everything is given equal treatment. For example, on June 1st, 1800, she writes: "I looked up and saw a lamb close to me. It approached nearer and nearer, as if to examine me, and stood a long time. I did not move. At last it ran past me, and went bleating along the pathway, seeming to be seeking its mother. I saw a hare on the high road. The post was not come in." A few things strike me here--one, the line, "I did not move." I don't know why this image is so hilarious to me-- a baby lamb inching ever so closely to the stoic, unmoving, terrified Dorothy Wordsworth (reader's interpretation on that last adjective). I think this speaks to her tendency to remain always passive; the world is there for her to observe and no more, it seems. It is also striking that the events of her day flow quickly from one moment to the next, pausing only when more detail is necessary. There are no breaks between the lamb, the hare, the post (none-- excuse me, William...). Outside of events directly related to William, nothing seems particularly extraordinary to Dorothy (which is not to say she is boring or dull-- on the contrary, she observes with equal appreciation).